MTA buses are being outfitted with driver-facing cameras. (Reggie Lewis/New York Daily News)

Smile, bus drivers, you're on transit camera.

For the first time in New York, buses are being outfitted with cameras that zoom directly on the driver.

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The addition to bus security is also raising concerns among some union officials and drivers that Metropolitan Transportation Authority brass may jam them up with distracted-driving charges.

"The average (bus) operator is going to view this as intrusive," said Mark Henry, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1056 in Queens. "Being a bus operator is probably one of the hardest jobs out there, especially in the city of New York."

The fear apparently led the MTA to ask, in a brochure the Daily News obtained, "Will the (Bus Camera Security System) 'spy' on you?" The brochure then answers the question, assuring drivers that "no one will be checking video just to see what violations they can find."

Instead, the video will be reviewed for reports of specific incidents, such as an assault or allegation that a driver was on a smart phone behind the wheel.

"I think the money they spent on these types of cameras to have these 'gotcha' moments on a bus operator could have been used in another manner," Henry said.

All new buses delivered to the MTA will come equipped with the driver-facing camera, which is a common feature on buses nationwide. In the meantime, the agency is retrofitting existing buses with the driver cams. So far, it has installed roughly 100, according to union officials.

"The camera system on buses protects the safety of both operators and the riding public and we're thrilled to be able to provide this benefit to everyone," MTA spokesman Shams Tarek said.

While bus drivers recognize the safety benefits, particularly because of the higher rate of assaults and harassment they suffer compared with other transit workers, there is still distrust and fear that the videotapes may be used against them.

"I can understand the MTA angle," said a 37-year-old who has been driving for the agency for five years in the Bronx. "They can open up mass floodgates for bogus disciplinary measures."

J.P. Patafio, a Transport Workers Union Local 100 rep for bus drivers, said the MTA originally wanted to use the video for spot checks.

But after negotiations between bus driver unions and the MTA at the state's public employee relations board, a deal was cut about six months ago to limit the MTA's ability to check the camera only for specific incidents.

"I wanted to stop fishing expeditions," Patafio said. "It can't be frivolous and it has to be something substantial."